Since its debut in September 2009, Security Essentials has been available free of charge to consumers for single-PC use, but not to the enterprise crowd. Starting next month, however, small businesses will be able to add the security product on up to 10 PCs at no cost.

"[It's] no secret that most small businesses today do not have a dedicated IT professional on staff to manage their IT resources," Eric Ligman, Microsoft global partner experience lead, wrote in a blog post. "Small business owners and employees are focused on running their business, not managing complicated IT infrastructure."

"When we launched Microsoft Security Essentials last year, small businesses kept telling us that it was exactly the type of thing they need at work too," Jeff Smith, director of marketing for Microsoft Security Essentials, said in a statement.

It is powered by the malware protection engine that drives Microsoft's enterprise solutions, he said. The product also uses a scanning and removal technology to collect threats from more than 600 million PCs monthly, which are then assessed by the Microsoft Malware Protection Center. New signatures are written and deployed daily, he wrote.

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While Windows 7 machines are not necessary to use Microsoft Security Essentials, Ligman did advise businesses to consider upgrading.

"With Windows 7 Professional, we prioritized speed, reliability, compatibility, and connectivity to keep their systems up and running," he wrote.

In July, Microsoft said that it had started making available the first beta of the next version of Security Essentials. The next version, Microsoft said, would be more tightly integrated with Internet Explorer as as way to secure the PC against Web-based threats. In addition, the software will also protect against network-based threats for both Windows Vista and Windows 7 users, whose PCs include the Windows Filtering Platform Service inside those operating systems.

Chloe Albanesius has been with PCMag.com since April 2007, most recently as Executive Editor for News and Features. Prior to that, she worked for a year covering financial IT on Wall Street for Incisive Media. From 2002 to 2005, Chloe covered technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from American University...
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